Coda says 125 Mile Range - EPA says 88

A bit ?

 

Why have I missed this until now? Their web site says deliveries to customers begin this month (I think). How many are they making? Does anybody have one yet? Has anyone on here test-driven one yet? The web site gives motor power (100 kW peak) but does not say zero to 60 time. Top speed 85 mph.

 

sounds a little funny...as Sage is suggesting 73 MPGe on all electric would be the least energy efficient BEV on the market. So hypothetical coal use would be high on this vehicle. This suggests quite a big battery to go this distance. Hopefully this has some benefit such as bigger car or cheaper batteries? This MPGe is more like a Volt in winter, which could be as low as 2 mile/Kwhr in EV mode.

 

Coda Battery-Electric Sedan Review
By Tom Bartley (3/8/12)

Coda Battery-Electric Sedan Review | Clean Fleet Report

 

Ah yes, I wondered about that. Its mileage is in fact pretty damned awful for an EV, not much better fuel efficiency than a Prius.

Also, I go with EPA, not what some PR consultants say it should be.

 

Looks like a really nice roomy car, but where's the beef?
Nothing offered on cost or how this is accomplished via battery.

 

I hadn't heard much about it, either.

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coda_Automotive]Coda Automotive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

I guess it may be bigger than a Leaf but it's also a no-name company, and it's more expensive than a Leaf. I don't see how it can separate itself from the competition. It also looks like a turn of the century car styled in Korea, not very attractive at all.

 

73mpge, is pathetic. 88miles vs 125 claimed is what is really going to hurt them.

My volt, in Colorado winter, has been doing about 116 MPGe in pure EV mode, 85mpge including gas for long trips.


EPA tests are much more difficult than many others. On the EU test the Volt gets 52miles EV.. EPA 35. Pip 14 vs 11

But to many this is a disappointment to others its not at all a surprise. Building an effective EV is more than packing 36kw and an electric motor into a shell.

 

...I saw a little more via Google, price range similar to Leaf.
Seems like a roomy car with big batteries, newer type LiFe batts said to be superior life. Seems like a good deal, potentially roomier than Leaf with bigger battery.
But one wonders if Leaf battery is $16k this battery must be expensive, but seems like price is bargain (taking loss on car?).

 

If you read this Automotive News blog entry, Mike Jackson left Coda in October of 2010. There was a bit of management turmoil at that time.

Doesn't sound like the kind of company I'd be jumping on board with initially, at least. Having worked in automotive I can attest that this kind of thing is tough to pull off under the best of circumstances.

- Chris

 

Straw man! Anybody who cares enough about the environment to spend the price premium to get an electric car will probably pay a couple of cents more per kWh to get wind energy.

I still have not seen zero-to-sixty numbers. One way to increase range is to decrease power.

I like the looks of this car. I like it that another EV is coming to market. I hope they succeed. I hope their price/quality/range/power is close enough to the Leaf (or better) that Nissan doesn't crush them, as we need more EV options.

 

How do you know your power is coming from the wind farm since everything is tied to the grid.
I would pay ten cents more if the power company put in a transmission line from the wind farm to my house.

 

This is one inefficient electric car.

 

If ZiL made an electric car...this is just about what it would look like. I know that we're supposed to be beyond that.....but no. This is where I draw the line. I'm not paying 35 kilobucks for a car that looks like a 1996 Volkswagen sedan. I'd rather be seen in my Prius thank-you very much! Not everybody likes them, but at least it has a styling theme.

 

You can't guarantee it, but if it isn't they're probably breaking the law.

You are paying to source electricity from renewables. This should mean that your money will go to renewables generation and allow those generators to add more capacity. However, with policy in many places renewables pretty much all get bought up, so the result of your purchase may merely be to signal your policy approval and give electricity companies more profit (or help lower conventional electricity prices). To know you're making a difference you'd probably need to sign up for regular electricity but then invest the difference in a generation project to make the renewable energy happen in the first place

 

It looks like a Daewoo..

 

Accounting. As I've posted elsewhere, What most people care about when they pay for "green" energy is the net effect of their personal consumption on the environment. Not only do I not care where "my" kWh come from, but it's a meaningless concept unless you own your own generation. But I care about the effect of my electric usage. Thus, if each kWh I use is matched by a "green" kWh generated and accounted to me and nobody else, then my net effect is that of "green" generation.

This is why grid-tied PVs are such a great idea. If you generate as much as you use, it really doesn't matter if you generate during daytime peak hours and feed it to the grid, and then consume from the grid during nighttime off-peak hours. In fact, that's even better because it shaves the peaks.

By extension, it doesn't even matter if you put up those PVs on somebody else's house in another state, as long as the generation is accounted to you, and there are not several people claiming "green" credit for the same power.

So, it just comes down to accounting. If the utility is on the level, the accounting should be there to assure you that the money you pay is going to renewable energy. Even if you are consuming at a different time of day than "your" kWhs were generated.

Bottom line: If the accounting is legit, then the more people pay for renewable energy, the more renewable capacity will be installed.

 

Back on topic, I think I see the reason I missed the Coda: The company is the old Miles Motors, maker of the Miles Motors NMG, which was a re-branded Corbin Sparrow, and didn't have a good reliability record (though I know a guy indirectly in Florida who put LiFePO4 in a Sparrow and loves it). They announced the Coda back in 2006 and I wrote it off as vaporware. I'm happy to see that it's finally rolling off the production line. I hope it meets expectations and that it's a solid and reliable car.